


Slow Dance With You

by A_Hollow_Descent, wolfpawz



Category: Octopath Traveler (Video Game)
Genre: Costume Parties & Masquerades, Fluff and Crack, Gen, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Out of Character, Slow Dancing, This Is STUPID, again this is very stupid, well its a bit out of character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-21 09:01:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15554241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Hollow_Descent/pseuds/A_Hollow_Descent, https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfpawz/pseuds/wolfpawz
Summary: The McCormacs are having their bi-annual masquerade and Therion wants in on some of their treasure. Of course, he drags Alfyn in as well.





	Slow Dance With You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wolfpawz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfpawz/gifts).



> Inspired by "slow dance with you // oc animatic" by mushie r.

“Join us at the bi-annual McCormac masquerade this year! Come and gaze upon the latest piece in their grand collection! (Families of varying nobility welcome, request invitation at manor gates.)” Multiple flyers said, strewn all across a wall.  
Alfyn thought nothing much of that masquerade until he saw Therion’s eyes widen at it.  
“What’s up?” He asked him. “Something you see?”  
“Uh, yeah,” Therion exclaimed. “Haven’t you heard of the McCormac family? They’re one of the richest families in Osterra! Known for collecting rare valuables across the land too.”  
“The McCormac family? You mean the people mentioned on the flyer?” Alfyn pointed at it.  
“YEAH,” Therion stressed. “Did you not hear me just now???”  
“I did, I did,” Alfyn assured him. “So what about them, they’re just having a party.”  
“Alfyn, the Flame take me you are so dumb,” Therion said. “We’re going to steal from them.”  
“Steal? Come on, Therion you already do that to everyone. You tried to steal one of my potions this morning, haven’t you had enough today?” He tried to reason.  
“The McCormacs are special. They’re a big challenge to any thief wanting to steal from them. I haven’t gotten the chance to prove myself against them, and I won’t miss this chance.”  
“Alright, alright.” Alfyn sighed. “You can do whatever you want.”  
“Wait, wait wait.” Therion stopped him, grabbing his shoulder. “You’re coming with me.”  
“Why???”  
“Cause you’re a thief, you’re my protege, you’re coming with me.” Therion reasoned though it wasn’t very convincing.  
Alfyn frowned. “I guess you have a point…” Alfyn fell for his dumb reasoning, he just couldn’t resist him.  
“Also I need someone to be my scapegoat in case I get caught.”  
“Hey!” Alfyn said.  
“I’m just kidding. Tonight, we raid the place.” Therion said, proud of himself.  
“How about we go undercover instead?” Alfyn suggested. “It’s smoother that way.”  
“...eh, I guess so.”  
    -that night-  
The two dressed up as fancy as they could. Alfyn wore the same brown waistcoat and dress shirt he always wears while Therion just took off his scarf and poncho. For masks, they went with the masks Therion stole a long while ago. Yes, the two could afford better, they just went with what they had.  
They both looked good anyways.  
Now the only thing left to do get was invitations. And of course, the only way they wanted to do that was stealing instead of just asking for some. Like a normal person.  
They hung around the manor’s gates, watching all the nobles gather around. It was like a herd of fancy people, and the two of them stuck out like a sore thumb.  
“So what’s the plan now?” Alfyn whispered to Therion, who was picking his nails.  
“What? Oh.” He said, looking up. “Just, I don’t know. Just mingle around and take it from some distracted noble.”  
“Okay…” Alfyn said. “But what about you?”  
“Eh, I’ll just wait here for you to get back,” Therion told him, going back to picking his nails. “Consider it a test for your thieving skills.”  
“Right. See ya in a minute.” Alfyn said. He patted Therion on the head. Cause why not, he went off before Therion could say a thing.  
Looking around the crowd, there were a lot of nobles who knew how to keep their stuff safe. They hid their invitations far from any thieving eye waiting to take their things.  
Though there was the nincompoop in the group who literally was waving their invitations around. A thin man wearing a yellow suit with the letter of invitations sticking out of his back pocket.  
“What. This is easy.” Alfyn said to himself. He went over and struck up a conversation with the man, slipping the invitations out of his pocket. He replaced it with a piece of paper that said “YEET”, a battle cry from Tressa’s town.  
“Well, it was nice meeting you kind sir. Now if you would excuse me, I am going to talk to a colleague of mine.” Alfyn said. Alfyn turned and walked to Therion with a smug smile on his face. Therion was, naturally, still picking his nails when Alfyn walked back to him.  
“Yo. Got the stuff?” He asked.  
“Got em.” He replied, handing Therion the letter.  
“Cool, who is this? ‘The Clutterbuck Family’? Wow. What a nice last name.” Therion snickered. They both spent a good minute snickering at that last name.  
“Now what?” Alfyn asked.  
“We wait,” Therion confirmed, putting the invite away and going back to pick his nails. The wait wasn’t long, the guards soon showed up and began letting people in.  
“Next!” He screamed.  
Alfyn and Therion walked up and handed over the invites. “Victor and Abcde Clutterbuck?”  
“What kind of names do these people have?!” Alfyn thought.  
“Yes sir that’s us.” Therion intervened. “I’m Victor, and tis the lovely Abcde.”  
Alfyn was surprised he could say that with a straight face. And also who said he could be Abcde-  The guard frowned, but dubiously let them in. “Enjoy the party you two.” He said, opening up the gates.  
“You would’ve thought that the guard would hold at least a bit of restraint at letting us in,” Therion smirked, “Front door break-ins are the best.”  
“Hahaha, you got that right!” Alfyn laughed.  
Inside the manor was a grand chocolate fountain. Of course, there were other things too, but that’s what stood out the most to Alfyn.  
“So, what’re we looking for?” He asked Therion, who was still picking his nails. “A gem, some heirloom, a better name for the Clutterbuck family?”  
“That was a good one.” Therion laughed silently. “But that’s not what we’re going for. Look for the thing that they were advertising on the flyer, their new thing that they got. It may be the thing we want.”  
“Yeah, but how am I supposed to figure out what is what?” He asked him. “There’s so many valuables here that look brand new…”  
Therion looked around. Past the grand chocolate fountain was rows on rows of glass cases, all displaying a grand assortment of treasures.  
“This is a doozy. Don’t worry, you got me here.” Therion said, patting Alfyn’s back. “I’ve practically been invited to all of their treasure showcases, so I already know what’s new already and what's not.”  
“Invited as in…”  
“Alright, I broke into the house all their past showcases.” He admitted. “But hey, I wanted to try out a different approach this time.”  
“No you didn’t, this was my idea!” Alfyn pointed out.  
“Oh yeah. Whoops.” Therion said, starting to walk away. “I’ll go check out some stuff over there, you go try and find the new treasure!”  
And with that, he was gone.  
“Damn that Therion…” Alfyn trailed off. “Always in his own world…”  
“I want to be part of your world…” He thought.  
Alfyn went towards the glass cases, he peered at all of the treasures this family has collected over the years. Orbs seeming to be made of translucent gold, filigree carved out of precious stone, a mini statuette of a man from another land.  
These were all beautiful and nice to look at, but they all had the hollow feeling that these were just possessions and not something of true value to the owners.  
“Ah, a fine piece indeed.” A short man in a black suit came up to Alfyn. “Are you interested in this figure? I could sell it to you for a price.”  
“Ah no, that's okay. I was just looking around.” Alfyn said.  
“Looking around eh? Like most of the people in ‘ere.” The man mused. “But they’re all looking for the new treasure too, like you I assume?”  
“Y-yeah,” Alfyn admitted. “It was advertised on the flyer and it piqued my interest.”  
“Is that so. Well, I’ll leave you to your searching, enjoy the party.” The man said, leaving Alfyn to himself.  
“What a strange man…”  
Alfyn spent his sweet time looking at all the trinkets and objects that after a while, he forgot what he was looking for in the first place. A slow melody came through the room.  
Attracted by the music, Alfyn found himself at the ballroom where masked men and women danced with one another. It was an amazing sight to see the gracefulness in all their steps and in such synchronization too.  
It was something out of a storybook, a sight that a country boy like him could never see, much less take part in.  
And yet he was here, but for all the different reasons.  
Alfyn watched at the side of the room, enraptured by the dance. Noise from the other side of the room caught his attention soon enough. It was Therion, being the usual Therion that he is.  
He was overwhelmed by a crowd of women.  
Alfyn couldn’t help but laugh a bit at the situation, Therion didn’t have the best in the looks department but that dark and mysterious aura kept bringing him and others in.  
Therion saw Alfyn across the room and made eye contact with him. A single glare that said: “Come help me you idiot.”  
Alfyn walked up to them and said: “Hey now, what's all the commotion about? You’re disturbing all the other guests.”  
“Well, if you wanted to know good sir I was just asking this gentleman if he wanted to dance with me.” The woman explained. “I don’t know what is up with all these others, I was the first one here!”  
“Excuse me?” Another woman interrupted. “I was the first one to see him obviously I get to dance with him.”  
It wasn’t long before all the women were up at each other’s neck, all arguing about who got to him first. Noblewomen at their finest.  
“Well, I’ll be going now…” Therion said, shuffling off to Alfyn’s side.  
They clearly saw him move away. “Wait! Who’ll you dance with?”  
Alfyn saw this as a prime opportunity, he wrapped his arm around Therion’s small shoulders. “He’s dancing with me of course. I am his partner after all.”  
“Is that so.” One of them smiled. “Well, you should’ve said so in the first place. Come on ladies, there are other available men somewhere in this building.”  
The horde of women left them.  
“Okay, you can take your arm off me now.” Therion sighed, pushing Alfyn’s arm off him. “The dancing part was a good addition, though let me clarify that I am not your partner. Nor ever will be.”  
“Aw, come on Therion…” He couldn’t help but let out a sad smile. Just then he came up with another great idea. “Hey, how about we dance for real?”  
“What?”  
“You know! A dance, just the two of us on the ballroom floor.” He suggested. He saw the look on Therion’s face and tried to patch it up. “Oh, well, I know a bit about dancing so…”  
“Rather forward of you,” Therion said.  
“Heh heh…” Alfyn awkwardly smiled and brought his hand out. “How about it? May I have this dance with you?”  
“...” Therion looked at him strangely, before taking his hand. “If we do, we’re never talking about this again, okay?”  
Alfyn beamed and brought him to the middle of the ballroom. He put his hands on Therion’s shoulders, while Therion put his hands around Alfyn’s waist. A strange sight to see, a taller man dancing around with a man who’s a head shorter than him.  
Alfyn smiled so much during their dance together, feeling as if it was just the two of them in the world and no one else. Therion looked away, a slight blush on his face. He couldn’t look at him straight.  
They sway from side to side in tune to the slow music.  
When they finished the music, they broke apart, not saying a word to each other. Alfyn felt the blush still on his face. What did they come here for again?  
Alfyn was about to speak up when the short man in a suit earlier came up to both of them. He gave them a light applause.  
“You two danced wonderfully, though not professional or refined, I sensed the passion you had.” He told them. “Reminds me of the way my late husband and I used to dance.”  
“Quit telling everyone I’m dead!” A taller white-haired man in the background called out.  
“Aha, don’t mind him.” The shorter man waved him off. “Anyways, he and I wanted to give this out to you.”  
He slipped a green jeweled ring off his finger and laid it in Alfyn’s hand. It was small and looked unimportant, it didn’t look like a wedding ring either, more like a charm.  
“It’s a skystone ring.” The man told them. “The latest treasure in the McCormac collection. It brings great protection, it's unlike any other charm you’ll find in Osterra.”  
“Wait, if this is the latest treasure, then why are you just giving it away to some people you don’t know?” Therion asked.  
“This makes the heist way easier than it’s supposed to be! We shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this so easily!” Alfyn thought.  
“To be honest, I bought this ring on accident. I have so much already that I didn’t want to sell it. I didn’t really need to but I decided to show it off before giving it away.” He said. “It is rather beautiful is it not?”  
“It is…” Alfyn agreed, rolling it around in his hand.  
“Well, thanks very much sir.” Therion broke in, taking the ring from him and stowing it away in his pocket. “That’s rather kind of you to give this to us, and if you’ll excuse us we’ll be going on our way now…”  
Therion put his hand around Alfyn’s waist and turned away from the man, quickly making their way for the exit.  
“Go go go, we got the treasure, just go!” Therion rushed him from under his breath. “Oh my goodness that was so easy. What was this heist even, that was too easy!”  
They speed walked their way out of the manor and past the guards, trying their best not to look suspicions while also wearing big grins on their faces. Therion still had his hand around Alfyn, but both of them didn’t say a thing. They were both still giddy over the treasure they got.  
They could’ve gotten more, but oh well.

**Author's Note:**

> why did I write this again? I don't know. This was supposed to be a serious fic, then it turned into a crack fic. It was supposed to be a one shot, but then I didn't work on it for a few weeks. I was supposed to work on it by myself, but my gf helped me out. Hope you enjoyed this, thanks for reading!


End file.
